Question 5 of us are starting the campaign game. The campaign scenario starts with 3 people playing Charlemagne’s Empire until it breaks up and then they divided it amongst themselves. The trigger for the break up is after the second Leader check. The trouble is there are only 2 cards out of the 56 with a 9 on them to force Charlemagne to do a leader check. There are a few events as well but it seems like it could be 2 – 4 turns (made up of 5 rounds) or perhaps longer before the Empire breaks up. Are we missing something because this makes for a pretty poor 5 person start of the game: three of us playing one nation and another sitting on the side line until the Empire dissolves?

Another question.

My second question is about event cards. Playing the edition with the added cards, there are a LOT of event cards. By the rules, all of them are in the deck the whole game. Many (most) are only effective during their historical time window. This means that very very few cards are actually useful so the cards that fill your hand are useless and the one that played upon the draw are useless as well. Has anyone removed adapted and played like many CDG’s and had different era decks so that more cards are used? As it is, even with the optional rule to draw 2 cards, the playable event card is very rare.

I don't recall what I did with the first question, but if you are reading the rules right ... it is waht it is.

For the second question, you are right. What I did was allow the player to keep drawing until there was an event that was playable based on the time window. That was the only way to use them effectively, in my opinion.

Question 1. Charlemagne lived and reigned for a long time. 768 - 814 AD, so 46 years. That would be 9 Rounds of EotMA. Charlemagne was succeeded by Louis the Fair, from 814-840 (26 years). At the that point the Empire of the Franks broke up between his 3 sons.

So historically it was a long period, and about 14 Rounds in the game. So the game mechanic seems historical.In terms of play, the more practical approach is to start with 2 players, and play out the Charlemagne period. Once the Empire breaks up, bring in the other players.

Question 2. My (very limited) experience of those event cards is that they were useless. The Armies were also uninspiring. The Fleets and the Universities were close to game breakers, the fleets giving immense reach.

On Question 2, the additional event cards are only included in the deck for the years in which they apply. So each turn before shuffling the event deck you should add any new P and L cards into it. If an event is picked after its 'expiry' date it is removed from the game and a replacement card picked. (page 33 of the DG rulebook)

On Question 1 the above is right - Charlemagne was especially long-lived and the idea is to use his leader 9 superiority to expand the Frankish empire as much as possible before he dies, so that his sons inherit empires that can each stand up against the Byzantine player.